An open letter to Kim Jung-Un

Fate has set you at a pivot-point in history, placing you in the office of leader of North Korea. You know the situation on the ground there, the shortages, the hardships, the hunger. You know as well the success of nations having open governments and open economies -- your time spent being educated in Switzerland has given you access to that perspective, one which is likely unknown to the average one amongst your countrymen.

I offer you no mockery, no calumny, but simply this advice. You have the power to end autocracy in North Korea, and if you do this thing you will be a true and historic hero, in the eyes of all the world. Enable the Koreas to reunite, and not only will you improve the lot of the North Korean people, and guarantee their food and necessities, but the world will laud you and light your name among all the heroes of history, with Simon Bolivar and Gandhi and Martin Luther King!! In one motion, you can make the ultimate step toward insuring the well-being of the nation you now lead, and peace in a great region. Verily, I can think of no other action which any man in the world might take this day to guarantee not only betterment of the world, but the receipt of the Nobel Peace Prize.

The alternative, naturally, is the status quo, an ever-worsening political and humanitarian crisis, the worst outcome of which will be a war in which everybody loses. You may succeed in developing nuclear weapons -- but at what cost? And to what end?

And as to your personal provision, well there is no end to the value of being a hero to the world. You will face no want, no material desire unfulfilled, the only thing you stand to surrender is the power to use force to bend unwilling people to your preferences. But you will need no such thing, for a hero such as you can become is met with willingness of the people to follow!! You may fear that others in positions of power in your country will oppose such an effort, perhaps violently -- but none can usurp you once you have the world at your back!!

The logical, rational, desirable course is clear. Take the reins of fate, Kim Jung-Un -- cast aside your armaments and disband your army, and let your people and those of your kinsmen to the South become one once again -- and in so doing, perform the one act of global heroism which can lend immortality to your name!!